


Special Moments

by total_theatre_nerd



Series: Buddie one-shots [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Dad!Buck, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, Fluff, M/M, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 18:21:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21396610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/total_theatre_nerd/pseuds/total_theatre_nerd
Summary: Buck didn’t believe in birthday wishes or shooting stars. But if he had, if he could’ve wished for anything in the world, he knew without a doubt that he would have wished for this.Eddie talks to Chistopher. Then he proposes.It doesn't really go as he had planned, but nothing in his life ever did.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Buddie one-shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545295
Comments: 33
Kudos: 398





	Special Moments

Eddie had to wait until Buck wasn’t in the house. It was hard, ever since he had moved in they had pretty much soaked in each other. The morning routine now had Buck there beside him and Chris, doing exercises with his leg or sit ups. There was an extra face in the mirror as they brushed their teeth, an extra bowl at the table. Hen had joked that they were still in their honeymoon phase, where everything was wonderful and they wanted each other close, wanted hands on bare skin and lips on lips and still shot each other besotted looks whenever they could. That excuse had worked for the first month or so, but Eddie wasn’t sure they could still use it after all this time. Maybe this was just what love was, when you found it in its purest form.

Eddie loved having Buck with him through all aspects of his day. Bobby had some worries that living and working together would create stifling tension, that they’d feel suffocated by the constant presence of each other. But Eddie just felt safe. That’s why it was so hard to find an excuse to get Buck out of the house—he knew Eddie would never ask him to leave.

Eddie thought about staging an argument, but the way his heart hurt at even picturing the way Buck’s face would fall if he asked for some space quickly dissipated that idea. Instead, he enlisted Maddie. Buck would always be there for his sister.

He had cornered Chimney at the end of a shift, eyes darting around constantly as he asked for the favour, not wanting Buck to walk in on their conversation.

“Let me get this straight,” Chimney said, a grin skating its way across his face, “You want me to get Maddie to call Buck and pretend we had an argument.”

“Yes, Chim. Please, I just need him out for an hour.”

“You want us to make up relationship drama so you can have some alone time to… to do what?”

Eddie averted his gaze, cheeks pinking. “I’m going to ask Christopher what he thinks about me proposing,” he mumbled.

“Sorry, what was that?” Chim asked, but when Eddie looked up he could tell by the thrilled look and beaming smile that he had heard him perfectly fine.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I want to ask Buck to marry me. But I need to talk to Christopher first.”

Chimney reached out and clasped a hand on his shoulder. “We’re gonna create the best fake argument you’ve ever seen. Buck will come running over to ours, don’t you worry about it.”

“Well don’t make it too bad, okay? Don’t make Buck want to punch you when he gets there!”

Then Eddie was pulled into a hug, and he brought his arms up to wrap around Chimney. It had taken Eddie a while to get used to the touches from the family here at the firehouse. The bumps of shoulders, squeeze to the knee, the hugs. But he loved it all, he really did. And it meant he didn’t have to use all his self-control to stop himself reaching out to brush his hand past Buck’s when they walked close. It was normal.

“My boy’s all grown up,” Chim teased as he pulled away, lifting his hand to pretend to wipe away tears.

Eddie snorted. “I’ve always been grown up.”

“Edmundo, I wasn’t talking about you,” Chimney said with a laugh.

That was the moment Buck walked in, dropping a quick kiss to Eddie’s cheek as he drifted past. Chimney sent Eddie a wink as he walked backwards out the door.

Buck’s phone rang as they were cuddling together on the sofa. Christopher was already in his pyjamas after having a bath, and there was a blanket draped over the three of them. The TV was playing a cartoon, which one Eddie couldn’t have said, because he was focusing on the way Buck’s finger traced patterns over his skin. Eddie shivered every time the pressure grazed over a certain point, feeling the warmth of his family beside him.

Buck shuffled slightly, careful not to jostle Christopher too much, to reach his phone that was balanced on the arm of the sofa. 

“Hey Mads,” he greeted cheerfully.

Eddie caught a few words from the other end. Words like ‘fight’ and ‘bad’. He watched the simple smile on Buck’s face morph to a mask of distress. Distress of an intensity he hadn’t been expecting. Eddie instantly felt guilty.

“Yeah, of course,” Buck said softly as he gently slithered out from the boy who was leaning on him. Christopher looked up but didn’t say anything, just rearranged himself so all his weight was settled into Eddie instead.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Buck’s voice was getting quieter as he scrambled out of the living room and into the hallway. A thump sounded, and Eddie could picture him rushing to get his shoes on, losing his balance, and crashing into the wall.

“What’s wrong Daddy?” Christopher asked, twisting his head to look up at Eddie with wide eyes.

At that moment Buck popped his head round the doorframe, phone clutched between his shoulder and his ear.

“No, no, Maddie, it’s fine. Eddie can put Christopher to bed, of course I’m coming. Buckley night is something you can call at _any_ time.”

He disappeared for a few seconds and when he returned his denim jacket was draped over his shoulders, phone stuffed in his pocket, and car keys dangling in his hand.

“What’s wrong with Maddie?” Christopher asked, genuine worry in his voice too. He had such a big heart, cared so deeply about everyone he let into it, that Eddie dreaded the day he’d fall in love for his own.

“She’s just a bit sad so I’m going to go over to cheer her up,” Buck said reassuringly, bending down and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

He straightened up a little and took a step to the right, doing the same to Eddie. His lips lingered on his forehead for a few heartbeats before he pulled away.

“I’ll come too!” Chris exclaimed, already wriggling to try and escape from under the blanket. Eddie placed a hand on his shoulder as Buck shook his head.

“You’ve got school tomorrow superman, you need to get to bed.”

Eddie could only see the back of his son’s head, but he could imagine the pout that would have appeared on his face.

Seemingly anticipating more resistance Buck continued. “I’ll be able to make her feel better tonight, but do you know what she really needs? Something to make her feel better tomorrow and to remind her that we all love her, so if she gets sad and I’m not there she’ll be able to look at it. What do you think?”

“A card, Buck! I’ll make her a card!” Christopher squirmed with delight as Buck let out a small cheer.

“Perfect idea! You can make it before you go to bed and then me or Daddy can give it to her tomorrow. It will make her so happy.” Eddie still felt that sense of wonder at how effortlessly Buck interacted with Chris, always knowing the right thing to say.

“It will Buck, don’t worry,” Christopher said earnestly, head nodding.

“I’m not worried at all. I know that your cards are magic!”

Chris giggled as Buck smiled before finally pulling away and standing up. He jerked his head towards the door, eyes darting to it and back to Eddie’s. Eddie got the hint, and he extracted himself from Chris, pausing only to grab the box of paper and coloured pencils and pens they kept under the coffee table to place it beside him on the couch.

“You get started with that okay?”

Christopher hummed his agreement, already reaching out to it.

Eddie joined Buck in the hall where he already had a hand on the door handle.

“She had a fight with Chimney and she called Buckley night. It’s something we started when she moved out here. It means we’d be round with no questions asked, an indulgent movie and some ice cream.”

“Of course, Buck.” Eddie ignored the twist of his stomach. He didn’t like lying to him, even for this.

“I don’t think it’s anything bad, she wasn’t crying and she didn’t sound too upset. I guess she just doesn’t want to be alone,” Buck explained. He seemed to have calmed down, his hasty actions a reflex response that came with hearing his sister say she needed him. But now he realised it wasn’t too serious some of that urgency had bled away.

“I get it. She’s your sister,” Eddie said with a smile.

“You’ll be okay putting Christopher to bed?”

Eddie rolled his eyes at that. “You think I’ve suddenly become incapable?”

Buck bumped his shoulder into Eddie’s. “It’s just been a while since you’ve done it alone.”

That was true. Usually they were both there to tuck him in, or they were working night shifts together and Eddie’s abuela or aunt or Carla was in charge of getting him into bed.

“We’ll be fine Buck, don’t worry,” Eddie reassured, the corners of his mouth twisting up.

“Okay, love you,” Buck said, leaning forward to give Eddie a quick peck before he was out the door.

Eddie’s phone buzzed with a text as he turned to walk back to Chris.

_Maddie: The last Buckley night we had was when Buck realised his feelings for you and came over to cry into his ice cream about how he didn’t want to lose you and Christopher. Remind me to tell you the story next time. Have a good talk with Chris. _

The corner of his mouth quirked up. Eddie loved Buck with all his heart. The others still laughed about how oblivious they had been, how long it had taken for them to admit to themselves they were in love, and how long it had taken for them to admit it to each other. But Eddie wouldn’t change their story, not even one sentence of it. Because it was them. It wasn’t perfect, but it was beautiful.

Eddie had always intended to have this conversation with Christopher. Buck had been in their lives for a long time now, and they really were a family. But his son was still the most important person in his life, always would be. And Buck understood completely.

Christopher had just brushed his teeth. He was wearing his superman pyjamas and smiling as he clambered into bed, still chatting away. The smile that took over Eddie’s face was something he couldn’t have pushed down if he tried. The fact his wonderful, beautiful son radiated so much happiness with the struggles he faced—it made Eddie’s heart swell.

As soon as Chris was under the covers Eddie sat down on the edge of the bed. Chris just smiled, shuffling as he sat up against the headboard.

“So buddy, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Eddie started, hands rubbing at his thighs. “I need you to know that there’s no wrong answer, that whatever you say is okay and I won’t be mad or sad.”

“Okay Daddy,” Christopher said with a nod.

“You know that I love Buck very, very much.”

Christopher started nodding his head enthusiastically. “I love him too Dad.”

Eddie lets out a huff with the smile. “I know, I know. It’s not a competition,” he joked, leaning forward to jab him gently in the side. Chris giggled and squirmed.

“So I wanted to ask you what you think about if I asked him to marry me.”

Eddie wasn’t expecting the smile to drop off Christopher’s face so quickly.

“I…” Chris started before trailing off, averting his gaze. Eddie shuffled closer, a sense of dread sweeping over him almost instantly. This hadn’t been the reaction he was expecting.

“What is it, Chris? Remember what we say?” Eddie prompted.

“Feelings are okay,” Chris dutifully answered.

“Feelings are okay,” Eddie repeated, heart clenched. He thought Chris loved having his Buck around, they basically wouldn’t stop smiling when they were with each other. “So whatever you’re feeling you can tell me.”

Chris looked up. “Scared.”

“Oh mijo, why are you scared?”

“Because you and mummy were married, but she wasn’t here. I don’t want Buck to go away.”

“Oh Chris. Me and Buck getting married doesn’t mean he’ll go away.”

“But mummy did.”

Eddie’s heart hurt. He knew that their train wreck of a marriage had impacted Christopher, knew he was still coming to terms with everything. But he hadn’t realised that to his son marriage wasn’t seen as a joining together, but as a falling apart.

Eddie shuffled forward and dropped his hand onto Christopher’s leg, giving it a soft squeeze.

“Me and mummy loved each other very, very much. And I still miss her, I always will. But we just drifted apart, we changed, and that meant that what was best for us all was a different kind of life. But getting married doesn’t mean that Buck will end up leaving. I love him with all my heart, and I want him to feel that. Being married means we’ll have a party and give each other rings and promise to love each other for the rest of our lives. Me and mummy, we still loved each other. And that’s what getting married is about—being in love. It’s just a way to show the world that he’s part of our family.”

“But he already is,” Chris stated, eyes narrowing as he cocked his head to the side. Eddie swallowed with a deep breath, trying to think how to explain this to his son without scaring him.

“Getting married is a way to dedicate ourselves to each other, but it also means that Buck will have things he wouldn’t have if we didn’t get married. If I was ever hurt then Buck would be able to come visit me with you, and if I needed him to look after you then he would be allowed to without a fight.” Eddie didn’t want to mention dying, not when Chris was so fragile, but the diluted version was probably more confusing to Chris than anything else. It was something Eddie sometimes thought about, when Buck was curled in at his side and the darkness surrounded them, when he couldn’t sleep no matter how hard he tried. If something ever happened to him on the job, or he was in an accident or some other event that forced him to leave his son, then he wanted Buck to be there for Christopher, didn’t want a custody battle with a judge telling him he wasn’t the real father and had no real ties to the boy.

Christopher seemed to take a minute to absorb the information and try to understand it.

“If you get married, he’ll be like my other dad?” he eventually asked, hands twisting the duvet.

“Yeah, mijo. He’ll be your other dad. Officially.”

And there was the beaming smile Eddie had missed. “I think I’d like that.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said with a small laugh.

Chris leant forward and gently cupped his hand on Eddie’s cheek. Eddie thought if his smile became any bigger it would start to hurt.

“Being married means you tell Buck you love him. And he stays.”

“Yeah buddy, he stays.”

“Forever?” Chris asked, hopeful, wide eyes, biting his lower lip.

Forever. What did that word even really mean? Nothing lasted forever, Eddie knew that very well. The walls that surrounded him would one day crumble, the beach would be taken by the waves, even their spinning planet would one day cease to be. Forever was a word that meant nothing but everything at the same time. Promising forever was saying I’ll stay with you for as long as I can.

“I hope so Chris,” Eddie replied, reaching out to pull his son towards him, bundling him up in his arms.

Eddie felt a certainty that he hadn’t felt with Shannon, or with any of his previous relationships. He knew Buck saw him—flaws and scars and fears. He cracked Eddie open to see everything, and still loved him, still held him. There wasn’t an obligation to stay together for a child, or a sickening feeling that he wasn’t truly being himself, was still hiding a piece away. With Buck he could be bare, in every sense of the word, and know that there would be someone there to catch him when he couldn’t take the weight any longer.

Christopher was the first to pull away, patting Eddie’s hand as he did so. “Will I have to start calling him Daddy too?”

Eddie’s heart lurched at that, not able to tell whether that was something Chris wanted or didn’t want. He knew they had been co-parenting for a long time, before they had started dating even, and Buck and all their friends and family definitely regarded him as Chris’s other dad. But Chris had never called him anything other than ‘his Buck’, and Eddie knew Buck didn’t mind, wasn’t expecting anything.

He made sure he caught his son’s eyes, so he could see the truth in his words. “You don’t have to. You can still just call him Buck if you want to. He’ll be my husband, and he’ll be whatever you want him to be.”

Christopher hummed. “I’ll think about it,” he decided.

“Okay, mijo,” Eddie said as he watched Chris squirm around in his bed, moving from his propped up position so he was lying down, head on the pillow.

Christopher took off his glasses and handed them to Eddie, who placed them on the bedside table. His heart was still hammering away, apprehension not completely gone. “So you’re okay with me asking Buck to marry me? You understand that it doesn’t mean he’ll leave. That it’s just to show people we love each other so, so much.”

Christopher smiled sweetly up at him, teeth on display and eyes crinkling. “Yeah Daddy. You’ll be happy.”

“We would bud. But you need to be happy too.”

Christopher nodded. “I will be. It means we don’t have to share Buck. Everyone will know we love him the most.”

Eddie chuckled at that, lifting his hand to run it through Chris’s hair. Maybe he’ll need to have another word with him about sharing, but at the moment knowing Chris would be happy if he could call Buck his husband, that was a feeling he didn’t want to lose.

“So I’m really going to do this huh? Ask Buck to marry me,” Eddie marvelled, more to himself than Christopher.

“Will you ask him when he gets back?” Chris asked, and Eddie’s mouth twitched at his enthusiasm.

“Maybe buddy.”

Eddie placed a quick kiss on Christopher’s forehead, smoothed out his hair, then stood up.

“Goodnight. Love you Daddy,” Chris mumbled with a sleepy smile, already burrowing under his covers.

“Love you Christopher,” Eddie replied, voice heavy with affection.

He switched the light off and pulled the door almost all the way closed, leaving it open just a little in case Chris called out to him in the night. Eddie hadn’t slept with their bedroom doors fully shut for a long time, and he doesn’t know if he ever will.

He took a moment to stand there outside Christopher’s room, wearing a dopey smile and feeling tears welling up in his eyes. He was going to ask Buck to marry him. And hopefully, he’d say yes.

Buckley night had been a success. Buck never used to cry at movies or TV shows, but somehow he found himself so much more emotional these days. And when the couple in the movie had declared their love and had the cliché kiss Buck blinked away the tears. If Maddie noticed she didn’t comment. Maddie hadn’t seemed upset at all and after the film she had ushered Buck away, waving off his concern and saying she was going to phone Chim. Whatever they had argued about it couldn’t have been too serious if she was willing to forgive after a couple of hours with her brother. She hadn’t even vented that much, which was what Buck was used to at these things. Still, he was happy that things weren’t as bad as he had worried they’d be. And he headed home happily.

In the bright light of the morning he was happy to be sitting at the table with Chris, bowls of cereal in front of them both. Chris had just finished explaining Maddie’s card to him, pointing out all the different aspects to the drawing and making sure he knew exactly what to say when he gave it to her.

Eddie was in the shower. They could hear him singing and Chris giggled every now and then when he really went for a big note.

Buck beamed and his heart felt full and he took a moment to just breathe and think about how lucky he was to have the Diaz boys in his life.

“Has Daddy asked you yet?”

“Asked me what buddy?”

Buck looked up to see Christopher grinning. He wondered whether it was pizza for dinner or a trip to the park that Chris was hoping for.

“Asked you to marry him!” he exclaimed.

Buck choked on his cereal and ended up coughing some milk back into his bowl. It wasn’t attractive at all.

Buck knows that Eddie is it for him. That all his struggles had led him to find this wonderful, kind man who loved him more than he deserved. Growing up Buck had never thought he would get something like this. A family. People who loved him unconditionally. People who made him laugh and smile every day. Eddie Diaz was the love of his life. But he hadn’t known whether he would ever want to get married; it wasn’t really something they talked about. After Shannon and their almost-divorce, Buck hadn’t brought it up, was happy to follow Eddie’s lead. As long as he could love him he didn’t care how. As a boyfriend or husband, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was he had them both in his life.

“Uhh no Chris,” he finally managed to speak, reaching up a hand to wipe away the milk from his chin.

“Okay,” Chris said easily with a shrug, going back to eating. He was unaware of the way Buck was struggling to pull in breaths, the way his heart was skipping beats and fluttering in his chest.

When Eddie walked in Buck had shaken off the surprise and was cleaning the dishes at the sink. He heard his feet tapping on the floor as he walked to the table and a squeal of delight as he greeted Christopher, probably with an over-exaggerated kiss on his head or a little tickle. Buck didn’t turn around, but he smiled down at the sink.

“Why haven’t you asked Buck yet Daddy?” he heard. He tensed, scrubbing brush falling from his hand into the water as he held his breath.

To his credit, Eddie didn’t sound surprised. “Did you tell him Chris?”

“He said you hadn’t asked him yet!”

For a few heartbeats there was silence. Buck turned around, Eddie was shaking his head but the look on his face was all fondness.

Buck leant back against the counter. “What did you have to ask me?” he said with a smirk, ignoring the way his heart was racing. Not with fear, but anticipation.

“I wanted this to be special,” Eddie said softly as he took a step towards Buck.

“This is special,” Buck replied, voice dropping to almost a whisper.

Eddie snorted at that as he advanced another step.

“It is. Mornings like these make me so happy. Any moment with you and Chris is special to me,” Buck reassured.

“You’re such a sap,” Eddie said affectionately, head shaking slightly. “But I really hope you want more of these moments.”

“I do.”

“We’re not at the ceremony yet,” Eddie laughed, grin wide and open. “I haven’t even asked you.”

“Well, ask me,” Buck prompted rather breathlessly. Eddie curled a hand around Buck’s waist and the other traced a line down his jaw. Buck swallowed, eyes glistening.

“Buck, will you marry me?”

“Yes. I will. I’ll marry you.”

They both leant forward, lips connecting in a way that was so familiar but was laced with something new this time. It didn’t deepen, the beaming smiles and gleeful laughter made them pull away. Eddie wrapped both his arms around Buck’s waist and lifted him off the floor, spinning him around as they both laughed unabashedly. Ripples of joy sailed off them. Christopher’s own laugh joined theirs and they both quickly crossed the room to him, leaning down on either side and placing big kisses on his cheeks.

Buck didn’t believe in birthday wishes or shooting stars. But if he had, if he could’ve wished for anything in the world, he knew without a doubt that he would have wished for this.

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure whether to post this cause it didn't really turn out like I had planned but I thought I may as well since I spent the time writing it! 
> 
> This is my first fic for these two so I hope you liked it! There's been so much angst I wanted to put out some pure fluff! I'd love to know your thoughts on it :) 
> 
> I might write more one shots if inspiration hits, or if anyone has any prompts. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, kudos and comments are so greatly appreciated!


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